Friday's Spill & Chill

Finally I am back from the wonderful trip from Banyan Tree, Bintan. Though it's only 3 days and 2 nights, I am totally exhausted, both physical and mental. Too tired to upload the pictures and rattle about the experiences. Will do so in my next entry : )

We decided to give Daniel a pre-farewell dinner last Friday. Daniel is actually on a few months' vacation job as a recruiter, specializing in temporary staff placement, with us. Though a geeky-looking guy, he has the brains - An NUS undergraduate whose prospects seem very bright. Good for him!

Initially, I thought the dinner was off as there was no mention about it. I only knew that it was still on, via Adeline, in the morning itself. Gee, I did not bring along my digicam. How disappointing. No choice, I just had to use the lousy camera function in my mobilephone : ( The draft plan was to have a simple and inexpensive dinner at a foodcourt and chill out at Shin - A pub which sells beer for $2.90 a mug! As churchmice, we were tremendously enthusiastic about the offer and there was simply no mood to work in the day. All we spoke about were how many mugs of beer we were going to chug instead of how many candidates we were going to send for a position. Betcha if Boss knew about it, he would fire us one by one!

However, the draft plan went haywire when Ellen Lee suggested going to Pasta Fresca for dinner. Because it was let-your-hair-down Friday night, everybody went along with her recommendation and we totally regretted it! The food sucked at high prices~!~!~ Though everybody was sore about forking out hard-earned cash for lousy food, it was paint-the-street-red Friday (remember?), we were especially forgiving; all we wanted was fun and booze!

Instead of heading for Shin, we went to Monty's Bar because the happy hour promotion ($2.90 per mug) at the former was over. Settled quite happily at the latter as we joked about S-E-X, which included love, oral sex, various positions and so on. Had 3 - 4 bottles (I can't remember, reckon I was high) of Foster and I guess I could have had more if not for Daniel and Sharon - They needed to leave early for their other appointments and soon, one by one left and I had no choice, but to head home for hot bath and cosy sleep, in preparation for my trip to Bintan!

Daniel's Pre-Farewell Outing

Yummy!

Today's dinner was different. Instead of the usual kale & fish rice at Alexandra Village, Fat Boy and I went to Crawford Lane to have the famous ba chor mee! Splendid! Guess I would never be sick of ba chor mee! Ordered the smallest size of $4 and as usual, I had mee tai bak with lotsa chili and before I knew it, I had licked the bowl clean. Had wanted to order another bowl, but the thought of getting fat made me shuddered and I aborted the idea immediately. No choice, I could only go back next time to satisfy my insatiable hunger for ba chor mee~!

My wonderful ba chor mee. Yummy!

As it was still early, we proceeded to Haig Road to try the famous Putu Piring - Heard from Fat Boy that it tasted very nice and the ingredients used were fresh. Decided to grab this opportunity to try. There was a long queue when we reached. Business was brisk; the stall owners had a fairly hard time coordinating the process of adding the gula melaka chunks into the flour, steaming them in a big steamer and collecting money. Bought 2 packets containing 6 pieces of kueh for $2. Value for money eh? Took a bite at the kueh and there was this orgasmic feeling when gula melaka oozed steadily in the mouth and down the throat. However, after a few more bites, the overwhelming feeling morphed into a sick and dreadful one - I am one who cannot stomach too much sweet stuff. Stopped and passed the remaining kueh to Fat Boy, who readily stuffed everything into his chubby cheeks. (Sometimes, he really looks like a chipmunk : P)

Mouth-watering Putu Piring

Took a walk in the Lion City Shopping Centre to burn off excess calories from the ba chor mee and Putu Piring. The place was so old, run-down and nostalgic - something which we hardly see nowadays, but I guess it should be one of our parents' favorite haunts in their younger days. Since most of the shops had closed, we left the place and rushed home to watch "Incredible Tales 4".

Tummyache

A tummyache is the last thing one wants when she is at outdoors. It happened to me yesterday. After chomping down a plate of hearty Marinara spaghetti, I felt a dull ache at the lower part of my tummy. Thinking that I could ignore it by focusing on the beautiful tops and bottoms in Zara and walking around the huge mall in Vivocity, it proved me wrong. In a short while, I was reduced to a heap of jelly - I felt chillingly cold all over my body and my legs transformed into weak stumps. I could not tolerate anybody and start to search for the ladies'. I desperately needed to purge all the toxins from my body, yet I could not run; I was afraid that I might defaecate anytime in public. As the mall was huge, I could not help but broke out in cold sweat while dragging myself to the toilet. "I know I have been bad, God help me, I will be good next time" kept flashing in my mind. Though the distance was about 150 metres, it felt like kilometres. I thought I would faint at any moment. Fortunately, endurance landed me in one of the cubicles safely in time. Remained rooted on the toilet bowl for a good 15 minutes.

Guess the trauma was too much to handle, by the time I finished detoxification, I felt weak all over - I needed to go home and rest. Went home, had a hot and soothing bath and religiously popped a primrose oil capsule. Noticed that my eyes were abit swollen and I looked haggard - the next moment, I quickly jumped into bed and proceeded to slumberland.

Guess tummyaches are taboo for me. Remember when I went to Melbourne for a 2-week exchange program, it happened to be winter, and I was having tummyaches and diarrhea everyday. Though it was very inconvenient and painful, the only good thing was that I managed to lose weight (or water) : )

Rest & Relax

The moment the masseuses' palms were on my achingly tired back, I felt an instant relief and I could literally feel the rush of zillions of endorphins. Felt terribly relaxing and snoozed. Once the 90 minutes were up, I walked out of the massage parlor rejuvenated and charged-up. Last time, I did not know how to appreciate massages; I thought it would be a complete waste of time and money because I did not have the aches and sores at that point of time. After crawling to the working society which requires one to sit on the non-ergonomic chair 10 hours straight, excruciating aches at the shoulders and lower back is inevitable. The only cure? Deep-tissue massages. I love aromatherapy, which is all about deep-tissue massages using essence oils. They do help to detoxify the system which ensures clear complexion and regulates metabolism.

After the wonderful relaxing detoxifying session, I went to watch "Dead Silence" - A horror movie from the directors of "Saw". Initially, I was quite skeptical of the show because of the non-attractive poster. It was about a ventriloquist's curse on an influential family, which its generations would be killed (in an awful manner, of course) by the former. Left the theater intrigued, quite impressed by the twist at the end of the show : )

By the show ended, hunger was up to my neck. We quickly walked to the famous Nasi Bryani stall at the 3rd level and we ordered their specialty - Chicken Nasi Bryani. The rice was super duper fragrant and the chicken, tender to the bite. Despite a disciplined dieter, I polished the whole plate of rice. Yummy yummy. Satisfied and happy. Sometimes, it's always good to indulge : )

Proceeded to Summit to buy a pair of shoes because I am only left with 2 pairs of decent shoes and a pair of leopard-skinned flip-flops for working purposes. As I was chided by Adeline for buying only black shoes, I decided to buy a non-black pair of shoes! Hmpf! Ultimately, I bought a pair of royal purple shoes~!~! In addition, I also trotted to Mango to buy a faux snake-skinned belt. Blew 100RM (Which is equivalent to $50) on both items. Quite a steal, I believed : )

After I used up all my money, we left for home happily. Was wondering when I would wear my belt and shoes : ) Perhaps one of these days. In the meantime, they would remain in my "fashion heap" - New and unworn purchases of clothes, shoes and God-knows-what : )

My new Mango faux snaked skin belt & royal-purple shoes

Burning

Just came back from a good jog and right now, I can feel the fats and toxins oozing out from every single pore on my body. It really felt good overall despite the lousy initial thought of "Huh, jogging again?!" I am so glad that I am disciplined enough to burn yesterday's hearty and splendid seafood dinner.

Fat Boy and I went to Jumbo at East Coast Park to have seafood dinner because it had been a long time since we last touched zinc : P Had a great time digging the meaty flesh out of the gigantic Sri Lanka crabs and chatting about the past. It had been exactly 5 years...

Hungry - Waiting for food to be served.

Camwhores - Hamburger faces.

Dainty eater.

Big eater.

What can be more nourishing than drunken prawns?

Ugly Singaporean.

Cold and refreshing cut fruits.

After the heavy and cholesterol-laden dinner of chili crabs, drunken prawns, sambal kangkong, fruits and free flow of Chinese tea, we went for a long walk along the coast. Walked past the place where the cable ski was. Brought back horrible memories. Stopped at Bedok Jetty and enjoyed the fresh and salty breeze, as well as the serene atmosphere. It would be great if I can come here everyday and inhale the essence of the sea...

Absolute phobia for cable skiing.

So sick that tomorrow is only Friday. Another day to go before I can rest! Planned to go to JB to have my long-awaited aromatherapy, as well as my pedicure. I am so looking forward to Saturday! Yay~!~!

Trip to the Hairdresser's

Yesterday was another Blue Monday. As usual, I was feeling sick and moody. It didn't help that my 2-month old hairstyle was giving me the usual flyaway problem. Walked in and out of the ladies to resolve the issue by twirling the stubborn flyaway hair with my heavy-duty brush. Exasperated, I dialed Tommy's number - I was going to meet him later in the evening and my flyaway hair issue would be resolved! Felt so excited at the thought of it, but at the same time, I was worried that I might not make it in time because of the darn weekly sales meeting (I believed Boss would be telling us grandmother's stories in sales context, which would eat into our personal time again. Hey, what's new?)

Before he had the chance to eat into our personal time, I pressed him in conducting the meeting, dropping obvious hints that I was in a rush. Fortunately for me, either he was in a good mood or he had picked up my obvious cues, the meeting was a breeze. Everybody reported their figures and projections and immediately after that, we were free!

Quickly packed my stuff and rushed to Orchard Road for fear of being late for the hairdressing appointment. It is a known fact that one should never be late for the hairdresser's, because the hairdresser has a fixed time slot for each customer and if the latter is late, chances of him rushing into fixing his or her hair is very high and the possibility of committing blunders is very high and nobody wants that!

Fortunately, due to my lightning walking speed, I was 10 minutes early : ) Sat in front of the mirror and felt so disgusted by the flyaway hair. Kept twirling the sickening part using my stumpy fingers and at the corner of my heavily-lined eyes, I noticed a fair and plump woman looking shockingly at me - She must had felt disgusted by my flyaway hair too, was it? Looked fiercely back at her and saw her eyeballs switched to staring herself in the mirror. Bah!

Finally, Tommy came over and attended to me. He asked me what I wanted and I muttered "Concave, with a higher back" (Direct translation from Mandarin). Was in a serious dilemma if I should chop off my fringe, just like Rightie : P While he was busy chopping the irritating flyaway hair, I asked him if it would be good if he could chop off my fringe as well. His knee jerk answer was "Don't be rash" - an euphemism for "You are not suitable for a blunt fringe". I discarded that idea immediately; I did not want to insist my way and regret looking like a China doll for the next few weeks. After a few snips here and there, the look was completed. Satisfied.

Walked out of the hair salon satisfied and full of confidence. No dyeing of hair, no highlights, no treatment, no perm. Just plain and simple haircut, but yes, this was worth every of my $35.

Settler's Cafe

After much slacking for the whole day and bathing Boyboy, I washed up and went to meet my university mates. Was not very enthusiastic to meet up because of Zhaoxin (I didn't know what rubbish she might come up against me again) and the place that we were going to meet. I reckoned it to be boring.

Took my own sweet time to dress up and stroll to the MRT station while listening to my iShuffle. I was still early : ) When I was on my way to Clarke Quay station, I received an SMS from Zhaoxin.

Her: Where are you? We have reached.
Me: On the way. Thought we are meeting at 6:30pm?
Her: (No reply) Instead she called.
Me: (Refused to pick up) Called Wai Kin instead.

Me: Hey Bud, have you guys reached? I am on the way. Thought it was 6:30pm.
Him: No. 6pm.
Me: Oh...ok, since I am on the way, please tell her not to rush me!
Him: Ok.

After meeting up with them, sans apologies, we walked to Settler's Cafe. The place was full of teenagers and I suddenly felt so old. Ordered our dinner of fish and chips and drinks as we only had a choice of either fish & chips or chicken cutlet. I hoped that the fish and chips had better be good as I only had Maggi mee for brunch and I was feeling damn high and dry from hunger. While waiting for the food, we played Locco, a game which consisted of cards and chips. After 2 tries, we gave up and decided to play Monopoly. Dinner arrived after 15 minutes and I screamed out of exasperation - It was 2 pathetic palm-sized slabs of oily flour-coated fish with a handful of soggy fries hidden in a white box! What the hell! I nearly pulled all my hair out.

Swallowed dinner while playing Monopoly. I felt like a childish idiot, paying $12 for a pathetic dinner and having to sit for 3 hours to play secondary school games. After the 3-hour slot was up, we proceeded to Central to find a nice cafe to sit around and slack. However, due to the time, we would only have 30 minutes to enjoy our drinks. Hence, we decided to leave as it would be rather meaningless. We split in all directions.

As it was still early, both Skinny Bones and I walked to Chinatown to take a bus back. Strolled and complained about the ridiculous and expensive place. We could have gone to somewhere better >: (

Reached home, bathed and slacked in front of the Tube. Watched "Miami Ink", a show about tattoos. Had the urge to have another one. Perhaps, one of these days should go with Adeline to the tattoo parlor to satisfy the desire of pain : )

Liquor Outing

Immediately after work yesterday, both Adeline and I rushed to meet Ellen Lee and Daniel at Boat Quay. We left in a staggered fashion because we did not want Jacintha to know about our happy hour. Sad case - If not for Ellen Lee, I believe we would definitely include the latter : ( She is not exactly a bad person afterall. These few days, both of them, especially Ellen Lee, had been acting childishly towards each other. One typical scenario was the former asking Jacintha to take mints because she had "bad breath" and asking her to keep quiet because she was acting like a "10-year old". Quite bad for the morale of the team, actually.

After a quick dinner at Central Foodcourt, we proceeded to Barfly, only to know that they had no regular table to accommodate the 9 of us, unless we booked their VIP booth, which required minimum spending of $800. Whoa! That was very expensive for post-dinner drinks! No choice, we went to One Night Stand instead. Had never been to One Night Stand and the place was actually a small pub with live band music. Quite cosy, but the quality of the drinks sucked. Well, that would definitely be the first as well as the last time : P Waited the whole night for Rightie to turn up, but as she was in a meeting, I decided not to disturb her. Understood how frustrating it could be to be stuck in the office on a Friday night. Thought that she might not turn up as it was already quite late and it didn't make sense for her to appear for a while.

As Sunshine Boy Deryx had his leftover Martell from his birthday bash in Ministry of Sound weeks back, we went there to be liquor scavengers : P Had a fun time taking pictures of ourselves and absorbing the happening atmosphere of the place. Saw a number of tall guys around his height and I was immediately reminded of him and was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of sadness. Wondering what he could be doing at that moment. Well...

After a while, I began to feel lethargic - Loud thumping music and crowds are never in my list. I would prefer sitting in a quiet place and having my drinks. Yes, I am boring : ( Left alone and took a cab home. Went home to remove the thick eyeliner and mascara and bathed. Refreshed and smelling nice, I had wanted to go MSN, then I realized that I had forgotten that he was no longer there...

Colleagues.Love.13072007

When You Are Gone

Today's the 2nd day which there were no surprise calls, 24-hour SMSes, emails and MSN-ing from him. He is gone..for 3 months. Felt a sickening dull feeling the whole day. Nothing excited me...I was just a walking zombie who just breathed for the sake of breathing...

Airport and Thought of last Tuesday when he cooked for me. Tomato pork chop, fried kailan in oyster sauce and chicken wings. Though simple fare, I could see that he made the effort to do a good job and I enjoyed watching him cook. It was not an everyday thing to have a burly guy to behave like a housewife : P After that, we proceeded to his temple to pray for his safety before going to ChangiPasir Ris Park for long walks. Spoke about what was going to happen after that day - it was quite a stressful and sad moment

: (

Simple but fantastic fare

The not-so-appetizing tomato pork chop

Fried- fish- lookalike chicken wings

The veggie that I fried

Anyway, yesterday was Good Boy Eugene's last day. After a 2-week Sydney holiday and a day's MC, he threw in the letter. Kinda expected his decision as he did preempt me way before his holiday. Quite sad that he left the organization - Thought that we could click very well. Anyway, his passion has always been music, especially guitars, and not hectic sales. All the best to his future endeavors : ) I will miss his good boy looks, his helpfulness and his enormous appetite.

Tomorrow is Friday. Yay. Will be going out to chill at Barfly with the rest, together with Amy and Rightie. Guess despite how chummy I am with the rest, I love Amy, Rightie and Adeline the most! I must remember to bring my digicam so that I can snap beautiful and whacky memories of us~!

After 21 Days...

I cannot believe that today is the last day. It started with 21 days...I knew from the beginning that we had to say goodbye ultimately. It was a matter of sooner or later, but I was not the least affected because he was just one of the many guys that I came across. It was enjoyable talking to him as he was rather interesting. We spoke about the past, present and future - What were the things that we wanted to do when we had the ability to do so (I felt like I was back to childhood; always imagining which Barbie doll to buy when I gathered enough ang pow money) : P
For some reasons, we only met up last Wednesday, which was on the 14th day. Effectively, we only had 6 days to go. On the 1st date, we went to Waraku to have dinner before proceeding to the Esplanade's rooftop to talk. Initially, it was rather awkward because I was shy by nature. Couldn't really put myself to ease, partially because of his towering 1.83m frame. I felt so small beside him. However, he tried hard to break the ice and he succeeded. In no time, we were chattering like noisy monkeys : )

My claypot seafood udon!

Sizzling BBQ beef!

One slice of sashimi

Curry katsu don

On the 2nd date, we went to Gluttons Bay. Ordered sambal stingray, kang kong and oyster omelette. It had been such a long time since I had such fare - Simple and local. Enough of the pretentious-looking Japanese and Western fare : ) We gobbled everything and strolled around to prevent the formation of bulging tummies. Went back to the rooftop of Esplanade and chat. This time round was not very interesting. I had nothing much to contribute because I was very tired from work and the sleep debt that was incurred weeks back - I simply wanted to go home and rush to slumberland.

3rd date was fun, in fact, the most enjoyable. Despite waking up ridiculously early for the company workshop, I was actually gamed for cycling. We went to East Coast Park and cycled half the coast for 2 hours. After cycling for a while, we stopped to rest our aching calves and painful butts at one of the stone plateaus and later on, Bedok Jetty. When we were about to leave from the stone plateau, I tried to avoid the tall wild grasses due to itchy rashes on my feet . I stopped and complained about having to undergo such ordeal - Having aching calves and a painful butt was irritating enough, and my sufferings would be compounded by the "more itchy rashes caused by the long grass". Without any warning, he scooped me up and carried me. I was shocked, yet secretly enjoyed the fantastic feeling of carried by a towering King Kong. At that point of time, I felt like Anne Darrow : ) (Oh! How bitchy can I get! : P) How I wished time would just freeze there. Proceeded to have a splendid steamboat dinner and then to Parkview Square to slack. Nice view - Best place for dating couples.

The 4th date was movies at Lido. Bought tickets for "Transformers" and halfway through the show, I dozed off due to the blasting air-con and the sleep debt. (This is the 2nd time I mentioned it : P) Fortunately, there was his big big arm and shoulder that I could lean against. Woke up to the most interesting bits of the show and finally, after 143 minutes, it ended and I was relieved that my ordeal had ended. Yay~! We walked to Plaza Singapura to have dinner, but not sure what to have, and at the same time, lazy to think. Hence, we settled for Ajitsen Ramen. The food sucked and I was absolutely pissed - waste of money and tummy space for a better dinner. Argh! After much appeasing from King Kong, I cheered up and both of us strolled to Boat Quay. There was nothing happening on Sunday nights. Felt so sick, tired and thirsty (it must be from the pails of MSG that was used to give the soup flavor!~ > : ( ). Decided to find some nice place to sit and drown myself in water - We settled for Coffee Club to chill. After iced latte and iced blended rambutan shake, we left the cafe to sit along the river. It was very nice and breezy - Nice to pour all emotions, bad ones, of course, into the river and let them flow away. Took some pictures and as the next day was a working day, we left. Time seemed to draw nearer and nearer and I felt sick - This interesting King Kong, who left an impact on my life for the past few weeks, would not be around soon.

Taken by the river

He will be away for a year. Nobody knows what will happen after that. Perhaps, right now, I can only lock the happy memories in the closet of my heart. Everything will resume to normal after Wednesday, just like being waken up from a sweet chocolaty dream. No promises, no regrets. All I know is that I will miss him dearly.

Workshop (3rd Quarter)

The time is 6:15am. Woke up with a sick feeling in my head - Damn, it is Saturday, a good day for me to rest and relax, why the hell does Boss set up this meaningless workshop?Plus, I have to wake up earlier than usual. What the fuck. Dragged myself to bathe and changed into formal wear. What the hell, for goodness' sake, it's only a damn workshop. We are already made to waste half of our Saturday, do we really need to wear formal?

When I was about to step out of the house, I realized that it was drizzling. My god, do you really need to make a sport out of me? Am I not pathetic enough? Went to get the brolly and left the house. Home sweet home. Took Bus 196 and dozed off in the bus. I like to take early morning buses because of the full blast of the air-con and the semi-dark surroundings. Of course, if given a choice, I wouldn't want to take early morning buses every single day - I was reminded of those days when I was working as an Accounts Assistant in Tuas. Goodness.

Reached Marina Mandarin at 7:50am - Saw Ellen and the IT Team. All of them wore blazers, except me. Jeline asked me why I was not in one. Gave her a weak smile and replied a lame "I didn't know" which I was actually trying to imply: In the first place, I am already so damn pissed having to sacrifice my beautiful Saturday for this damn workshop. Why the hell do I still need to wear the blazer? Be grateful that I never turn up in jeans. Take it or leave it!" Did not have the appetite to have breakfast of Hong Kong noodles and shrimp dumpling. Perhaps, it was too early to eat anything. Instead, I had cappuccino and espresso - They worked wonders; I was awake almost immediately.

Workshop, as usual, was damn boring. There was nothing much except sales projections and meaningless presentations. Both Adeline and I were so bored that we left the function room several times to walk around Marina Mandarin and be camwhores! : P

After suffering for 4.5 hours, it finally ended and we proceeded to lunch. It was international buffet! There was a wide spread of savory food items like sugar cane shrimp, cod fish and so on, as well as desserts! Desserts include chocolate fountain, smoothies, kueh and cakes. As I was not really into buffets, after having some sushi, 3 glasses of strawberry smoothies, some savory items and kueh, I had my fill.

BGC 3rd Quarter Workshop 2007

Left at 2pm because I had to meet Vincent at my bus-stop at 3pm before going to East Coast Park for cycling. Went cycling for 2 hours and after that, dinner was steamboat at one of the hawker centres, before proceeding to Bugis. Sat around Parkview Square and had a good and relaxing chat. After a short while, we went home.

It was indeed unfortunate that he would be gone soon : (

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Yesterday was one of the most frightening moments in my life. Never in my life did I feel so freaked out.

Walked quickly up the stairs to the lift. He was standing there. I froze. "Hey! Just go away, I don't want to see you again!! I quickly entered the lift and the next moment, my handphone vibrated. It was his name. I picked up the phone and tell him to get lost. He said that he would just want to clarify and then go off. I agreed, thinking that it would be better if we settled it once and for all.

He said he didn't mean to stalk me. He said that he ran all the way just to apologize to me and to explain things. I refused to believe him and scream my head off. I told him to get lost and that I did not want to see him again as I did not want to pursue whatever happened earlier. Out of exasperation, he relented and walked away.

I sped all the way to the lift and ran home. I was so afraid that he might follow me and know exactly where I live. Closed the door and shut the windows and kept Boyboy in the other room. I was shivering in fear - would he appear in front of my doorstep? Regret meeting up with him. What supposedly was a relaxing dinner and drinks morphed into a I Know What You Did Last Summer scene.

Bathed and when I was about to sleep, my handphone vibrated. It was him again. Ignored the SMSes and the calls. I was really too tired, physically and mentally, to put up any defence or attack. I just don't want to have anything to do with men. I am sick of them just like I am sick of beef at the moment.

Just let it pass...let it pass....

Exclusitivity

Life remains stagnant. There is no ups and downs at the moment. Maybe this is a good sign. Peace. ( - . - )V Received a call from a HR Assistant Vice President of a prestigious corporate bank 2 days back - As I was highly recommended by the HR Executive, the former would like to sign a master contract for their temps and contracts with us. Sounds fantastic, but on the other hand, I felt stressed up - It had never been easy to find them their Trade Finance Clerk, Remittance Clerk, Settlements Clerk and blah blah blah..Anyway, she told me to discuss with Boss regarding the work flow and the rates and revert to her.

Yesterday, I pestered Boss to draft the master contract and was pissed off when he took his own sweet time. Ran him down by throwing a sarcastic remark "Boss, have you drafted the master contract? Are you not keen in doing their business?" The next moment, he emailed me the soft copy : )

She was fast. She replied this morning and requested us to meet her at her place either this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon. Boss chose today and we, with cautious minds, went to meet this renowned shrewish lady. The bank was indeed posh; how I wished I could work in there! We waited for good 10 minutes for her. Hearts pumping hard, emotions getting heavier. She appeared - She was in her 40's and was in heavy makeup. Beautiful but hard, and detailed too. We discussed the terms of the contract word by word and many a time, Boss was stung by her. Did not know if she regret inviting us to discuss the master contract... : ( However, due to the rate issue, Boss mentioned that he had to consider first before agreeing to her terms. But I believed he, a desperate businessman will yield to her terms : )

Went back to the office and slacked. Nothing happening except for the feud between Ellen Lee and Jacintha. Their relations worsened by the day just like fermented food. Was glad that Ade and I had no such problems (*Touchwood*)

Felt sick that the quarterly workshop is on this coming Saturday. No sleeping in and no Aunt's specialty. Damn.

Jame's Last Day

Last Friday, it was a sad day for us as it was Jame's last day with the company. Guess after much "so near-yet-so far" deals, it proved lethal for him. As a result, he would be going for greener pastures. As an appreciation of his great friendship, we threw a farewell lunch at Black Angus for him. Went for the late slot as we wanted to stretch the 1-hour lunch timing - We quickly made our way to One Raffles Quay. However, as the restaurant was packed with the lunch crowd, we had no choice but to sit outdoors, despite the humid weather, and we started to get frantic when the main course was served at 1:40pm. How to complete the whole course of soup and salad, main course, dessert and coffee within an hour? (We had to go back at 2pm) Sent an SMS out of courtesy to Boss, saying that we would be late and apologizing for all inconveniences caused. Received a reply shortly, "Don't ever do this ever again. Thanks". Felt sick in the tummy - Why must he be so calculative?

Rushed through the full course and reached the office at 2:25pm. 25 minutes late. Guess he was feeling damn pissed off. Fortunately, I had a business appointment with my client at 3pm. Ran out of the office with Claudia, my IT colleague, shortly. Yay~ I did not have to withstand his silent anger. Had an hour of discussion with my client, regarding the sourcing of Relationship Manager Assistants. Kinda boring as I am not specialized in Banking - I am more keen in Accounting and the general placements.

James' Last Day 29062007

Went back to the office and all my stuff started to pile up. I was practically up to the neck. Time flied fast - before I knew it, it was already 6:15pm and it was time to make our way to Oriental Hotel for our company's 2nd anniversary.

Cherry Garden, Oriental Hotel, is indeed a beautiful place. Instead of the conventional Chinese cuisine, it serves East-meets-West kinda fusion cuisine. May not be smooth to the palate at times, but it is definitely refreshing. Had fun with the Banking colleagues - We joked and took candid pictures of ourselves. Boss made a brief speech after the meal - He thanked Jeline, me and Adeline for being with him during the initial stage of the company. It does feel comforting to know that he still appreciates me, despite occasional, or rather frequent clashes with him.

After the hearty dinner, we went to Paulaners to meet up with James (By the way, he did not go for the company dinner as Boss felt that there was no need for him to attend). The place was absolutely boring and it didn't help when my head and back were target boards for some anonymous ice-shooter. Felt tired due to the high volume of energy usage during the company dinner. Felt desperate to go home. Did not want to join the guys for a KTV session in Orchard because I knew I wouldn't be enjoying myself there and I did not want to affect the others too. They accompanied me to take the cab and boy, I was glad that I reached home within 15 minutes!

BGC's 2nd Birthday 2007